How to use the time zone meeting planner
- Add locations. Type a city, country, abbreviation or IANA zone and press Enter. The planner starts with your own zone plus two common client zones. Rename rows to "Me" or "Acme" so the invite reads naturally.
- Pick the date. Offsets change with daylight saving time, so conversions use the exact day you choose.
- Set real working hours. Defaults are 9:00 to 5:00; change them per location. Green is working hours, amber is early or evening, blue is night.
- Choose a slot. Click any hour, or use the start-time list for 15-minute precision. The meeting card flags anyone outside their hours.
- Send it. Copy the invitation text, download a .ics calendar file, or copy a link that opens this exact plan.
How to find the best time to meet across time zones
Put everyone's working day on one clock and look for the stretch where they all overlap. If there is none, minimize the damage.
Overlap = latest start of the working day − earliest end of the working day (on one shared clock)
Worked example. You are in London and work with a client in New York and a developer in Bengaluru, all on 9-to-5 days, on Tuesday, November 10. London is UTC+0, New York UTC−5 and Bengaluru UTC+5:30. On London time, New York's day runs 2:00 to 10:00 PM and Bengaluru's runs 3:30 AM to 11:30 AM. The latest start (2:00 PM) comes after the earliest end (11:30 AM), so no hour works for all three.
The least-bad option the planner finds is 2:00 PM London, 9:00 AM New York, 7:30 PM Bengaluru: only one person is outside working hours, and their call starts 2.5 hours after their day ends. In July, with London on UTC+1 and New York on UTC−4, the same slot becomes 6:30 PM in Bengaluru, because India does not change its clocks.
How daylight saving time breaks recurring meetings
A recurring event is anchored to the organizer's time zone. When one side's clocks change and the other's don't, the meeting moves by an hour for someone.
The awkward part is that regions change on different dates. Under current rules the US switches on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November, while the EU and UK switch on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October. That leaves a few weeks in spring and about a week in autumn when New York is four hours behind London instead of five. Most of Asia and Africa do not change clocks at all, and the southern hemisphere changes in the opposite season, so Sydney and London drift apart twice a year.
After you pick a slot, the planner checks the next three months and warns you if a weekly repeat would move for anyone.
Etiquette for global clients
- Write the time zone explicitly, with a city. "3 PM CST" can mean US Central, China or Cuba. "3:00 PM London / 10:00 AM New York" cannot be misread.
- Lead with the client's time. Propose slots in their zone first and yours second, so they don't have to convert.
- Rotate the inconvenient slot. If one side always takes the 8 PM call, alternate it monthly or move part of it to written updates.
- Watch the date line. Friday afternoon in California is already Saturday in Sydney and Manila. Check the +1 markers before you send.
- Mind the half-hour zones. India, Nepal, Newfoundland and parts of Australia are offset by 30 or 45 minutes, so "on the hour" for you is not on the hour for them.
- Confirm before clocks change. In March and late October, send a one-line reminder with the new local times for standing meetings.
Quick reference: common freelancer and client pairs
Two 9-to-5 days under current rules. Check your exact date in the planner above.
| Pair | Gap Jan / Jul | 9–5 overlap (January) |
|---|---|---|
| Bengaluru – London | 5.5 h / 4.5 h | 9:00–11:30 AM London |
| Bengaluru – New York | 10.5 h / 9.5 h | None (9 AM NY = 7:30 PM India) |
| Manila – New York | 13 h / 12 h | None (8 PM NY = 9 AM Manila) |
| Lagos – London | 1 h / 0 h | 9:00 AM–4:00 PM London |
| Kyiv – Berlin | 1 h / 1 h | 9:00 AM–4:00 PM Berlin |
| São Paulo – New York | 2 h / 1 h | 9:00 AM–3:00 PM New York |
| Mexico City – Los Angeles | 2 h / 1 h | 9:00 AM–3:00 PM Los Angeles |
| Toronto – London | 5 h / 5 h | 9:00 AM–noon Toronto |
| Sydney – Los Angeles | 19 h / 17 h | 2:00–5:00 PM LA (next morning in Sydney) |
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to meet across US and European time zones?
For New York and London, the overlap of a 9-to-5 day is 9:00 AM to noon in New York, which is 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM in London for most of the year. Central Europe is one hour later again, so the window shrinks to 9:00 to 11:00 AM New York time. The US West Coast and Europe have no 9-to-5 overlap at all, so someone has to start early or stay late.
How do I schedule a meeting between India and the US?
There is no overlap of normal working hours, so pick the least painful edge. 9:00 AM in New York is 7:30 PM in Bengaluru from November to March and 6:30 PM from March to November, because India does not use daylight saving time. Many teams settle on an early US morning or an Indian evening slot and rotate it.
Does the planner handle daylight saving time?
Yes. Every conversion uses your browser's built-in time zone database for the exact date you pick, so a meeting in March or October shows the offsets that apply on that day, including the 23- and 25-hour days when clocks change.
Why do some locations show times like 8:30 or 8:45?
Some places are offset from UTC by a half or quarter hour. India is UTC+5:30, Newfoundland is UTC−3:30 in winter, Nepal is UTC+5:45 and Lord Howe Island moves by only 30 minutes for daylight saving. The grid shows their real local time, and cells that cross the start or end of working hours are split in color.
What do +1 and −1 mean in the grid?
They mark hours that fall on a different calendar day than the date you picked for the reference location. +1 is the next day and −1 is the previous day. The first hour of each new day also shows the date.
What time zone is the downloaded .ics file in?
The event is saved in UTC, which every calendar app understands. When you or your client import it, the calendar shows it in the local time zone automatically. The event description lists the time in every location you planned for.
Are my locations saved, and can I share the plan?
Your locations, working hours, clock format and meeting length are saved in this browser only, and nothing is uploaded. Copy link creates a URL with the zones, date and selected time, so anyone who opens it sees the same plan.